CAIRO: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has overturned a ban on allowing certain groups from observing Umrah and Hajj pilgrimage, a measure taken in early 2009 to combat the spread of swine flu. Individuals under 25 or over 65, pregnant women as well as people suffering from chronic illness, were not allowed to perform the Islamic rituals in Mecca as they were deemed vulnerable to the global pandemic influenza A(H1N1). At the time Egypt s civil aviation authorities also received a list of restrictions set by Saudi Arabia, including the demand that all pilgrims acquire a certificate showing they have received a seasonal flu vaccination at least two weeks before their flights before applying for a visa. Over two million Muslims travel to Mecca on Hajj each year, but concerns over swine flu have slashed the number of Egyptian pilgrims by between 30 to 40 percent. In October, Hussein Massoud, Chairman of EgyptAir Holding Company, which along with Saudi Arabian Airlines monopolize the Hajj season, told Al-Ahram Weekly that there was a 30 percent drop in Umrah pilgrims in 2009, which has forced the national carrier to refund LE 60 million in ticket sales to customers prevented from leaving by government restrictions. In 2008, EgyptAir flew over 70,000 Hajj pilgrims, 12,000 of them transit passengers. The decision to overturn the ban was a response to a complaint by the People's Assembly's religious committee, headed by Al-Azhar Scholar Ahmed Omar Hashim, which said that the ban was both unconstitutional and contravenes with sharia, since it prevented a specific group from performing one of the five pillars of Islam. -Daily News Egypt.
